Interesting concept as far as space and economy. Sea Ray did this with a 37 ft. and twin outboards about 2 years ago. Regarding sea worthiness, I bet you will be fine and can do some great coastal cruising. -FLETCHER500
Doubt if anyone will extensively trailer a 35' boat with a 10' beam but I do think they might be trailered 2-4 times a year and might be what some snow birders are looking for. The are several owners who have two boats because of the time it takes to cruise from the north or midwest to the west coast of FL. My idea is to hire a truck to trailer a boat up to MI in May and then return it to FL in early October.
Anyway, don't share most of your concerns. -DONSAN
Thanks, Fletcher and Donsan, for rescuing this thread from an odd conceit. And you, too, Cardude.
We visited our boat last week. I got a few pictures of a hurricane-damaged Great Harbour N37 in the yard, and then my phone mysteriously failed to record any more pictures than the one below. The photo is just Dan and Eric (a longtime Great Harbour/Mirage staff member ) standing inside the cabin with the interior mockup removed. As you can see, there is no roof yet.
The anchor locker, stringers and the sole are all glassed in. Every part of the hull connectors, walls, bulkheads, etc. are heavily fiberglassed together. It was really something to see the long sheets of glass stretching from end to end. Having done a bit of glassing when I was a youngster, I was quite impressed. Travis said he would send me some photos of the stringers without the sole glassed in, so if he does I will post them here.
We covered many subjects with Ken, Travis and Eric (and missed our friend Pierce). Batteries for the house bank - we are thinking Firefly because we can utilize 80% of capacity . Flying bridge - we are going with an aluminum flybridge because in the winter when we keep our big boat at our little house on our little canal, we have to go under a somewhat low bridge to get to Tampa Bay, and we do get the occasional extra high tide in the spring. There may be times when we need to fold down the flybridge for clearance under this bridge, and for trailering, so aluminum it will be.
Ken and Travis aren't sure when the boat will be finished. They are shooting for next month, but also warned us that it most likely will not be done until March. Sigh. I was really hoping that they would have the boat done in time for TrawlerFest.
The next day went to see Tom Foley at Marine Specialties in Oldsmar, recommended by Ken. He builds beautiful flybridges! He showed us around his shop, and then showed us several different aluminum flying bridges for one boat that he had built for some rich doctor, who has much more money than sense, and we had a good chuckle. I can't imagine having that kind of dough to throw around.
Warm Regards,
Pea